1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector that connects a fluid supply apparatus to an object of supply of a fluid, a fluid supply apparatus making use thereof, a moveable body, a fluid supply system, a method of connecting the connector, and a method of separating the connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an increase in consideration given to environmental problems in recent years, development of technology that uses hydrogen, which is a clean energy source, in place of fossil fuels that generate harmful combustion gas is progressing.
As devices that use hydrogen as an energy source there are, for instance, a hydrogen-fueled vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, and a fuel cell as a general-purpose power supply, and so forth. In these devices, the energy source, hydrogen, is saved for instance in a liquid state in hydrogen tanks, which are used one by one.
Since liquefied hydrogen is a fluid of an extremely low temperature of about −253° C., a device that has an insulation structure and other special structures is used for the handling operations thereof. For instance, a special structure to prevent the ingress of atmospheric moisture into the interior of a coupling used to detachably connect a hydrogen tank and a hydrogen supply pipe, at the time of disconnection, is provided on the coupling in addition to the insulation structure.
As a supply system for supplying liquefied hydrogen to a hydrogen tank, for example, a cryogenic pipe coupling described in Patent Document 1 below has been used.
This cryogenic coupling is used to supply fuel to a rocket, and has a pair of ball valves, and a male and a female coupling which fit together through the inside of these ball valves when these ball valves are open.
As the connection part of the piping of this cryogenic coupling is closed off by the ball valve upon separation of the piping, ingress of atmospheric moisture or foreign substances and so forth into the interior part of the coupling is prevented.
[Patent Document 1]                Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-113973 (paragraph [0017] to [0022] and FIG. 1)        
In the supply of liquefied hydrogen to a hydrogen-fueled vehicle by a hydrogen supply stand or the like (a facility that corresponds to a gas station for a fossil fuel vehicle), it is assumed that the connection of a hydrogen supply pipe to a hydrogen tank of the hydrogen-fueled vehicle is to be carried out manually by an operator, and therefore employment of a smaller, lighter coupling is preferable to improve the manageability of the coupling by the operator.
However, since the cryogenic coupling described in Patent Document 1 is for use in an application in which safety and certainty are emphasized, like the fueling of a rocket and so forth, as stated above, the structure is complex. Therefore, since the coupling itself becomes large-scale and heavy, handling is not easy.
Moreover, in this cryogenic coupling, the ball valve and the male and female couplings have to be operated respectively in order to switch the allowance and the restriction of the flow of the fluid through the cryogenic coupling, and handling is not easy.